That big old cat pictured on the left might be the new South Dakota state record blue catfish. Corky Lemon (middle) was fishing in the Big Sioux Catfish League event within buddy Terry Matheny when he hooked the 99-pound fish.
“That fish just about pulled me out of the boat,” Lemon told the Sioux City Journal. “I’ve never had a fish pull that hard in all my life.”
The catfish was weighed on a certified scale and then released at the Sioux City boat ramp.
The current South Dakota record stands at 97 pounds and was caught in 1969 by Edward Elliot in the Missouri River.
The world record? That belongs to Richard Nicholas Anderson, who landed a 143-pound blue catfish in 2011. Read more about the world record blue catfish here.